Sources: Iowa Energy and Sioux Falls Skyforce shift to western conference in 2016/17

Multiple league sources inform Upside & Motor that the Iowa Energy and Sioux Falls Skyforce will be shifted to the western conference next season. The move makes sense as the D-League is adding three expansion teams — Greensboro Swarm, Windy City Bulls and Long Island Nets — and it’s logical that those teams who be eastern conference teams due to their locations.

This will align the conferences and give each 11 teams for the league total of 22, which is the most in it’s history.

This could result in a sizeable shift — at least for the 2016/17 season — as three of the last five D-League champions have come out of the West. If you move Sioux Falls to the West, then four of the last five title winners are out west now. D-League seasons change from year to year as frequently — and wildly — as Russell Westbrook’s outfits but four of out five is a sizeable percentage. It also bears notice that the last six expansion franchises are now all in the East which means more established teams are west. The reason that is important is due to the importance of returning player rights and assets teams who have been around longer have been able to build up.

Greensboro, Long Island and Windy City will all join the fray in 2016/17 and if history repeats itself those teams will likely struggle in their inaugural season. The last three expansion teams won 12 (Delaware), 10 (Westchester) and 23 (Raptors) games respectively and none of them made the postseason in their expansion season. Things do turn around quite quickly in the D-League however as Westchester made the playoffs this year before eventually bowing out to the eventual champion Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Sioux Falls has made the playoffs three straight seasons and is coming of the greatest single season in D-League history as they went 40-10 in the regular season and 6-1 in the playoffs in route to their franchise’s first D-League title. The Iowa Energy have not made the postseason since the 2013/14 season, but they just hired Matt Woodley as their new head coach and the move seems to be a hit so far.

This move also has ramifications on scheduling as the league will now try to ensure that teams play conference foes more often than others. The proposal is that each team will play every other team in their own conference four times, then they will have eight “non-conference” games, and the final two games will come for each team at the annual D-League Showcase. If this comes to fruition then there is no way that each team will play every other team in the league. At best, teams will play 20 of the 21 opposing teams, which is closer but just not quite there. Proximity and travel costs are always a priority when the league makes their schedule but it’s just strange when teams don’t play all season. For instance, the Sioux Falls Skyforce and Los Angeles D-Fenders duked it out in the Finals and game one was the first time they had played each other all season! It adds intrigue to some extent, but c’mon.

This likely won’t be the last modification that comes out for the D-League this offseason as the league survives by staying highly adaptable as they keep growing towards the 1:1 model they seek with the NBA.